Monday, January 17, 2005

BLOG-BLAH-BLAH-ITIS

ADDICTED TO LOVE

Because I have a case of  Blog-blah-blah-itis,  I am going to write about all the men I have been crazy about.  I have had to kiss a lot of frogs to find Zorro.  This is my story.

Several months ago my Mother handed over to me a tan leather book bag.  Inside was a treasure trove of  "Mary" memorabilia  dating back to my first grade report cards and including everything she considered worth saving.  Post cards from camp along with letters from college, pictures, Girl Scout badges and the hat, my first communion book are just a few of the items that greeted me.  There was an electrified quality that pulsated from it.  That was me!….returning from a long journey to introduce myself  to me.  

Memories are mysterious things.  Fragments of a time from long ago.  Mind pictures, as if  I were viewing a mini movie from the back of a very large and dark theater.  The movie starring a very young, impetuous, uncertain child.    Go way back to when I was 12 years old and I had been signed up for diving lessons along with my friend Dottie.  The instructor was the man I had my very first real crush on. I was secretly in love with Kit, the hunky life guard who was the instructor.  Kit did not go to school in our small town, but was attending a military prep school in Tennessee.  He was an older man, 17, and also the head life guard at the local swimming pool, along with being the swim team coach and diver extraordinaire. Plus he was missing the first joint part of his index finger, lost in some mysterious way that only made him more exciting. 

Dottie bailed out on me and for two tortuous weeks I was dropped off at the pool for an hour of diving lessons one on one with Kit.  I was a miserable diver.  Totally no talent.  Yet, I went day after day and suffered the humiliation that only a 12 year old girl can suffer.

The absolute worst was when he decided I was advanced enough to try a back dive off the High Dive.  Over and over  we both went up the twelve steps to the top where he would hold me around my waist while I leaned over backwards until he let go.

Oh the joy of those seconds of being held by him!   Quickly obliterated  by the blue water rushing at me and my legs cascading over me causing a backwards belly flop.   

I can not believe that I climbed back up that ladder for more.  Again and again.  

Oh…..yes I can.  For at 12 years of age I was realizing the truth that would follow me for a long time.......love hurts.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like true love as only a 12 year old girl can experience.  I mean, you were willing to do a back dive off the high dive!  That's gotta be love!

Anonymous said...

Wow, does this ever ring completely true!

Anonymous said...

That is hilarious, Mary.  I don't think  I would have put up with all that just for sake of a crush. Or, come to think of it, at twelve years old, maybe I would have.  Lisa  :-]

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful story.  Only love could entice one to repeatedly bellyflop of the high dive.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I can see it now.  Darn those lifeguards and the things they make us do. (I have another accidental flashing story involving a high dive, btw.)

Anonymous said...

And sometimes it hurts BAD!!!  Ouch!  JAE

Anonymous said...

That must have been some true love.  I think those crushes when you are younger are more painful that your first love.  Funny story :-)  Pamela

Anonymous said...

I was a stalker. Herman and I rode the same bus home and got off at the same stop. I would walk on the other side of the street just looking at him.
Herman was from England and had an english accent. He was older than me by a few years, but it was a critical few years and Herman never noticed me at all. I wonder if he knew I was stalking him on his way home each and every day. Probably. And this makes him kind too, because he never let me know he was aware of me... Crushes are so embarrassing in retrospect, and yet, so innocent and charming at the same time. Dalene of AHH at http://journals.aol.com/ahhliving/AHH

Anonymous said...

OH man a pool pic. This weekend we are going to get snow they say. I will want to come back to tha tpool pic. Yeah love is hard lesson at our youth. I dont know if I can even remember all my lvoes anymore. Lori

Anonymous said...

You wrote this beautifully ...and yes it sure does

Anonymous said...

So sweet!  sigh... the things we do in the name of love...  lol.    ~Sie

Anonymous said...

That's why you never want to see these people years later. Keep the memory just the way it is. My first love weighs 300lbs, smokes cigars, eats whale blubber out of a five gallon bucket and farts so loud she can't hear Jerry Springer on her own TV. Jenny the princess to Jabba the hut. Nice entry.

Anonymous said...

Great entry, Mary. I remember those childhood crushes. I was so awkward I did not quite know what I was doing most of the time. The unfamiliar heady feeling made me drive my bike over and over and over and over again infront of my chrush's house. You tell great stories and they make me look back and think about what I was doing when I was twelve.

Anonymous said...

Very "real" entry.  Your writting is an amazing gift.  You know just the right way to tell a story :)

- John (http://journals.aol.com/jryle79/Kentucky)

Anonymous said...

Heh. reminds me of the commercials for ??? (what a bad commercial, right) where all the girls are in love with the tennis instructor and play like pros when he is watching... lol Memory is a funny thing, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Great memories. So did you kiss that frog or just take a dive for him?
xoxo

Anonymous said...

I was 14 when I had a crush on the 17 yr old lifeguard at our swim club. His name was Tommy and he drove a motorcycle. I was a frosh and he was a senior. He finally dumped me for a senior who put out! Oh well....I saw him several years ago and he was bald! Good story, wish my Mom had saved my stuff. Nelle

Anonymous said...

Ah! Young love. Your 17 year old life guard/diver is much more impressive than my road-kill skinning 13 year old. LOL

Anonymous said...

Well, if this is what you come up with after getting the "Blog-blah-blah-itis," I hope you get them more often. Great story! :-) ---Robbie